 |
|
Tuesday,
December 17, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
|
No batting changes: Ganguly Kiwis unfazed by big names Windies on top South
Africa beat Pak
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Sarabjit sets record, Pavittar fastest Maharashtra book semifinal berth Manipur in semis AP pip Punjab for volleyball
gold Manavjit wins gold Sabeeha’s absence costs Punjab dear Punjab in soccer semis
PSB score win NFL
|
|
No batting changes: Ganguly
Wellington, December 16 “You cannot pick or drop players on the basis of just one innings. They have been successful with their style. It is just a matter of one game,” Ganguly said after his side had a rigorous session at Basin Reserve this morning. The Indians suffered a collective failure in both the innings of the first Test here but the deficiency of opener Virender Sehwag and middle-order batsman V.V.S. Laxman against moving deliveries led to speculation that they could yield their places to two reserve batsmen in the squad, Shiv Sunder Das and Mohammad Kaif. “It is a matter of who gets picked up, one who is averaging 34 or one who is counting 48 plus in Tests,” said Ganguly in an obvious reference to the batting records of Das and Sehwag respectively. The Indian captain backed his batsmen but asked them not to be complacent if India was to draw the two-Test series 1-1 at Hamilton. “There is no panic in the batting yet but they can’t sit on the past and it’s time they did well at Hamilton. “These guys have put you in winning position in the past. They put the team in a hole in this Test and it is up to them to pull us one in the next game.” “Their bowlers bowled in right areas but the fact is we batted very, very poorly. We played poor shots. “These guys are averaging 40-45 in Test cricket which I think is great at this level over a certain period of time,” said the Indian captain. Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, V.V.S Laxman and Ganguly himself are among the top 10 scorer in world cricket in the current calendar year. While Ganguly admitted that his batsmen were found wanting in the first Test, he backed his bowlers to have restricted New Zealand to 247 in the first innings. “At the end of the day our bowlers did a good job to get them out for 240. We were in a good position on the third day but we just threw it away with our batting,” said Ganguly. The Indian captain, who expressed disappointment over the bowling performance of Ashish Nehra and Ajit Agarkar at Basin Reserve, gave enough indication about Tinu Yohannan making the final XI for the second Test. “Zaheer (Khan) bowled well, (Sanjay) Bangar bowled extremely well and that’s a big plus but obviously Ashish and Ajit didn’t bowl up to the mark.” “Tinu looks very good in the nets and he has come on. He looks a much better bowler than what we have seen in England.” On New Zealand fast bowler Shane Bond, who was largely instrumental in the first Test win taking seven wickets in the match, Ganguly refused to believe he was exceptional. “He is sharpish but there are bowlers who bowl at that pace around the world,” said Ganguly as he sought to dismiss his batsmen could be shell-shocked after their experience of the bowler at Basin Reserve. Hadlee flays Kiwis Despite the convincing 10-wicket victory in the first Test, New Zealand’s chief selector Richard Hadlee has slammed his batsmen saying “some of them have continued to struggle for runs.” “We were very pleased with how the bowlers went. But the batting remains a concern... We talked a lot about the batting,” Hadlee said, even as the selectors decided to stick to the same squad for the second Test starting at Hamilton on Thursday. “Mark Richardson was outstanding but some have struggled for runs at the domestic level and it continued in this Test match,” he was quoted as saying by a local daily today. “We decided to continue with the same side as it was just a two-Test series and keeping the same 12 together also helps prepare the side for the coming one-day series.” “Had it been a three-Test series things may have been different,” Hadlee stressed.
PTI |
|
Zaheer was nervous going into Ist Test Wellington, December 16 “It was tough for me to play straight in the Test after a gap. It was tough on the knee since I had a narrow escape in the Super Max game,” said the left arm fast bowler who took five for 53 to help his side restrict New Zealand to 247 in their first innings of the first Test, which the hosts won by 10 wickets. Zaheer Khan was hit painfully on the right knee while fielding in India’s tour opener on December 4 at Christchurch and had to miss the subsequent three-day game at Napier.
PTI |
|
|
Kiwis unfazed by big names When a team loses as badly as the Indians did against New Zealand in the Test at Wellington, it either becomes very difficult to lift the motivation level of the team or, the team could be gunning for revenge. In coach John Wright’s case, I pray about the second situation but going by what we have seen for years now, I fear he could be battling with the first one. Indeed, the confidence of the Indian team must be at a low ebb after a humiliating outing. They were undone by a New Zealand team which wasn’t fazed by the big names in Indian batting but struck to a simple game plan. They gave a hard green top, knowing the Indians don’t like the ball swinging and coming at their throat, and their fast bowlers bowled good line and length. The Indian batsmen did the rest, falling in to the trap to lose the match in two and half days. As I said, many teams lose the first Test but come back to win the next. Even Saurav Ganguly’s team has done it in so many occasions recently so ideally you cannot rule them out in the second Test. But, the worrying thought is that international teams have become so aware of the Indian weakness against the short-pitched bowling, that I would expect the New Zealanders to give another green top pitch in that Test. Judging by the manner of their capitulation, the Indian batsmen won’t find it easy at Hamilton either. In the present Indian team, I find only Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar capable of weathering any bowling attack in any condition. The rest, including Saurav Ganguly, VVS Laxman and Virender Sehwag struggle in conditions where the ball seams and bounces because they are basically touch players, lacking much footwork. This was exposed by the New Zealand fast bowlers and if they are to perform to their batting averages, these three will have to play the ball in the line of their body. By playing the ball away from your body, with an angled bat will only give slip fielders catching practice and the Indians have to realise this fast. The other worry for the Indians has been the lack of form of Ajit Agarkar and Ashish Nehra. Though the Indians bowled out New Zealand for 247 in their first innings, it was largely due to the effort by Zaheer Khan, with some help from Harbhajan Singh and Sanjay Bangar. Now, if Nehra and Agarkar could not avail of a golden chance to bowl in helpful conditions, I have no doubt in my mind that Tinu Yohannan should be given a chance in the next Test. |
|
Windies on top Chittagong, December 16 Left-armer Collins finished with 3-60 and Powell with 3-51 as the Bangladeshi batsmen failed to apply themselves. Scoreboard Bangladesh (1st innings): Sarkar c Gayle b Powell 15 Sahariar lbw b Drakes 25 Bashar c Jacobs b Powel 3 Hossain c Jacobs b Lawson 36 Ashraful c Powell b Collins 28 Kapali c Gayle b Collins 2 Mashud c Sarwan b Drakes 32 Hoque c Samuels b Lawson 8 Baisya hit wicket b Powell 5 Manjurul b Collins 21 Talha Jubair not out 4 Extras: (lb-5 nb-10) 15 Total: 194 Fall of wickets: 1-43, 2-43, 3-48, 4-112, 5-116, 6-125, 7-144, 8-153, 9-189. Bowling: Collins 16.1-3-60-3 (nb-3), Drakes 9-3-23-2 (nb-4), Powell 16-4-51-3, Lawson 22-9-55-2 (nb-3). West Indies (1st innings): Gayle not out 10 Hinds c Mashud b Baisya 14 Sarwan not out 14 Extras
0 Total (1 wkt, 15.2 overs) 38 Fall of wicket: 1-16. Bowling: Islam 8-5-12-0, Baisya 5-1-26-1, Jubair 2.2-2-0-0.
AFP |
|
South Africa beat Pak Paarl, December 16 The left-handed Kirsten made 102 not out as South Africa took a winning 3-1 lead in the five-match series with a nine- wicket win. Scoreboard
Pakistan: Kamran Akmal b Ntini 31 Elahi lbw b Kallis 26 Razzaq lbw b Donald 5 Youhana run out 61 Inzamam-ul-Haq lbw b
Younis Khan c Boucher b
Faisal Iqbal run out 9 Afridi b Kallis 0 Mushtaq b Pollock 6 Waqar Younis not out 13 Shoaib Akhtar c and b
Pollock 0 Extras (lb-1, w-7) 8 Total (all out, 48.4 overs) 213 Falls of wickets: 1-54, 2-65, 3-67, 4-129, 5-166, 6-183, 7-190, 8-196, 9-213. Bowling:
Pollock 9.4-1-39-2, Ntini 10-2-44-2, Donald 8-0-35-1, Kallis 9-0-35-2, Peterson 7-0-29-1, Klusener 5-0-30-0. South Africa: Gibbs b Razzaq 52 Kirsten not out 102 Dippenaar not out 47 Extras
(lb-4, nb-5, w-4) 13 Total (for 1 wkt, 42 overs) 214 Fall of wicket: 1-111. Bowling: Waqar 8-0-47-0, Shoaib 7-0-35-0, Saqlain 10-0-52-0, Razzaq 7-0-32-1, Afridi 10-0-44-0.
AFP |
|
Sarabjit
sets record, Pavittar fastest
Hyderabad, December 16 In the sprint events held in at in Osmania University, Pavittar clocked 12.785 seconds while Rajani timed 13.791 seconds. In the final, Pavittar faced a determined rival in his teammate Ramninder Singh (12.410), who chased him till the very end, but the champion kept his nerve to win the gold. Kerala’s Vishnu Chand (12:540) pipped K. Somen Singh of Manipur at the post to grab the bronze. Rajani, who won the 500m time trial yesterday, made it a golden double winning the sprint event pushing the challenge from Geethanjali Devi (Manipur-14:210) and Goutami Devi (Manipur-14:531). Punjab continued to dominate the event as Sarabjit Singh won the 4000m individual pursuit gold, clocking 5:01.010. In the process, he broke the six-year-old national mark set by Punjab Police’s Prithpal Singh (5:07.70) and games record of (5:11.20) established by Manipur’s Premjit Singh in the Games held in the North-East in 1999. Sarabjit pedalled his way past Sandeep Kumar Malik of the Services Sports Control Board, who had a timing of 5:11.670 in the final. Bronze too went SSCB’s way with Jorawar Singh (5:10.715) defeating Manipur’s Bikram Singh (5:22.510). Manipur made a clean sweep in the women’s 3000m individual pursuit with gold medallist Choba Devi breaking the existing national and National Games records convincingly. She (4:18.180) overcame team-mate and defending champion Bina Kumari Devi (4:21.477 sec) in the final while Rameshwari Devi (4:26.300) beat Premalatha Suberman of Andhra Pradesh (4:38.720) for the bronze. Bina not only lost the gold medal but also the national record (4:23.19) to the eventual champion. Incidentally, Bina set the record on the same track less than a month ago. The National Games record of 04:26.188 was set at the Manipur games by Rameshwari Devi.
UNI |
|
Maharashtra
book semifinal berth
Hyderabad, December 16 Playing with four borrowed stars, Andhra Pradesh took the lead in the third minute through veteran Mukesh Kumar, who scored through a set-play cross from Sameer Dad. However, Maharashtra, who saw more of the ball throughout the match, soon found the equaliser in the 23rd minute with Dhanraj Pillay finding the mark in his usual inimitable style. Mercurial Pillay’s decision to play total hockey did not pay much dividends as Andhra goalkeeper Edward Allosius stood like the Rock of Gibraltar against a wave of attacks from Maharashtra. Maharashtra, who have finished their league engagements — they won against Karnataka and Bengal — have seven points from three matches, while Andhra tallied four from two matches. Bengal are virtually out of the tournament having lost both their matches. Karnataka are yet to play Andhra and Bengal. Violence marred the drawn match in the morning between Tamil Nadu and Chandigarh. Goals from international L. Prabhakar in the 20th minute and Gurpreet Singh in the 30th minute for Tamil Nadu and Chandigarh, respectively made the score 1-1 but all hell broke loose when umpire H.S. Sokhi denied the latter a penalty corner in the dying minutes of the game. Sokhi had already awarded Chandigarh a corner by the end of regulation time. But after their failed attempt, Chandigarh players demanded for one more corner claiming a foul by Tamil Nadu goalkeeper Somasundaram. However, Sokhi turned down their appeal and in the melee that ensued Chandigarh players and the team manager Ashwinder Singh heckled and pushed Sokhi around. Karnataka team manager T. Shanmugam had lodged a protest against hosts Andhra Pradesh having four borrowed players in their team and the decision of the tournament conduct committee is expected to be announced before their match against Andhra on December 18.
PTI |
|
Manipur in semis
Hyderabad, December 16 Geetarani Devi struck thrice while Lokeshori Devi and Tababi Devi scored a brace each for Manipur, who simply mesmerised their opponents with their speed and skills. Melody Haokip, W Sachirani, N G Bala Devi and Thoi Devi were the other goal-getters for Manipur at the police grounds. After Lokeshori Devi drew first blood for Manipur in the 14th minute, Tababi Devi found the target twice in the 23rd and 24th minutes. Lokeshori found her name in the scorer’s list again in the 36th minute with a fine solo effort, while Sachirani Devi compounded Assam’s misery with a fine strike in the very next minute before Geetarani Devi netted a minute before the interval. In the second half, Geetarani (48th), N G Bala Devi (58th), Haokip (74th) and Thoi Devi (78th) increased the margin. The semifinal line-up would be completed tomorrow after the concluding group B fixtures pitting Orissa and Kerala and Andhra Pradesh and Bihar. PTI
|
|
AP pip Punjab for volleyball
gold
Hyderabad, December 16 And the crowd was not disappointed as AP dished out quality volleyball. Y. Subba Rao and skipper Ravikant Reddy set the pace for Andhra with some superb smashes and solid double blocks. Negating the best efforts of Gurvinder Singh and Narender Singh, the hosts packed their game with power to take the first two sets quite convincingly. Roy Joseph brought Punjab back into contention as they scored a smashing 17-25 win in the third set. The thrilling fourth set witnessed long rallies with Dhanraj and Sudhakar enthralling the spectators with their powerful smashes. The hosts took the final two points on errors made by their opponents to bag the gold and leave the silver to Punjab. Earlier, Tamil Nadu ralled to defeat Kerala 31-33, 33-31, 25-20, 25-21 and win the bronze. The 90-minute match at the KVB Reddy Stadium here saw fortunes fluctuate from one team to the other before Tamil Nadu sealed the fate in their favour. Despite conceding the first set marked by long rallies to Kerala, Tamil Nadu refused to give up. Kerala won 33-31. The ding-dong battle continued as the points were fiercely fought between the two teams. Tamil Nadu spikers led by M. Thulasi Reddy and Sivaranjan bounced back into the game and levelled by taking the second set with the same 33-31 margin.
PTI
|
|
|
Punjab athletes dominate Hyderabad, December 16 Records were at a premium but athletes of Punjab dominated a lacklustre day two, bagging three gold and hosts Andhra Pradesh accounting for two, winning the men and women’s 400m hurdles, at the new world class stadium at Gachibowli in the 32nd National Games here today. In the two prime events of the day, the 100m races, Punjab’s Jagdish Basak in lane three, burst into the lead ahead of the field of eight runners to emerge the fastest man of the Games winning the gold in 10.59 sec. Services’s Sanjay Ghosh (10.72 sec) and Maharashtra’s Ganesh Satpute (10.77 sec) won the silver and the bronze, respectively. In the women’s section of the sprint event, Maharashtra’s Kavita Pandya ran away with the gold following a good start in a field of seven runners. Clocking 11.79 sec, she dashed the Andhra’s hopes of winning the gold through its “import” Vinitha Tripathi. Vinitha finished second, yards behind Kavita to take the silver (11.88 sec), while Kerala’s K M Greeshama settled for the bronze (12.12 sec). Punjab bagged another gold when Amrit Pal Singh with a best effort of 7.73m won the long jump pushing Haryana’s Maha Singh to second place (7.53m) for the silver. International S Ramachandran of Tamil Nadu jumped 7.52m to get the bronze. The results: Men: 100 m: 1 Jagdish Basak (Punjab) 10.59 sec, 2 Sanjay Ghosh (Services) 10.72 sec, 3 Ganesh Satpute (Maharashtra) 10.77 sec. Long jump: 1 Amrit Pal Singh (Punjab) 7.73m, 2 Maha Singh (Haryana) 7.53m, 3 S Ramachandran (Tamil Nadu) 7.52m. 400 M hurdles: P Shankar (Andhra) 51.37 sec - New games record, 2 Abhishek Pandey (Uttar Pradesh) 51.68 sec, 3 K P Visagamani (Tamil Nadu) 51.85 sec. Old Record: Gurpreet Singh (Punjab) 51.66 sec, 2001. Women: 100 M: 1 Kavita Pandya (Maharashtra) 11.79 sec, 2 Vinitha Tripathi (Andhra) 11.88 Sec, 3 K M Greeshama (Kerala) 12.12 sec. 400m hurdles: P Udayalakshmi (Andhra) 58.41 sec, 2 Sapinder Kaur (Punjab) 59.26 sec, 3 A Kalyani (Andhra) 59.85 sec. 10,000m: Madhuri Gurnule (Maharashtra) 34:50.89 sec, 2 Pushpa (Delhi) 35:28.55 sec, 3 L Aruna Devi (Manipur) 35:44.64 sec. High Jump: 1 Bobby Aloysius (Kerala) 1.79m, 2 Sahana Kumari (Karnataka) 1.76m, 3 Sarita Patil (Maharashtra) 1.73m. Discus: 1 Harwant Kaur (Punjab) 55.29m, 2 Saroj Sihag (Haryana) 53.09 m, 3 Swaranjit Kaur (Punjab) 50.76 sec. UNI
|
|
|
Manavjit wins gold
Hyderabad, December 16 In the trap event, Manavjit Singh Sandhu secured the first gold for Punjab with a new meet record. Punjab won the team event gold also. In the other team events, Maharashtra won the gold in 10-m rifle for women, while Uttaranchal collected another gold in 25-m std pistol. Anjali, who had done well in the Commonwealth Games but put up a dismal show in Busan Asian Games, finished with 500.5 points to collect gold and was followed by Deepali Deshpande of Maharashtra (500.4) and Suma Shiroor, also of Maharashtra, (495.02). The previous record of 495 stood in the name of Anjali, employed with the Central Industrial Security Force. She opted to represent the hosts in the Games and it was a hat-trick as she had won the title in Punjab and Manipur games. Though Jaspal Rana of Uttaranchal defended his title, he was far off his best as he could finish with a rather poor score of 570 with the record being 578 set by him in 1999 Games. Vivek Singh of Delhi picked the silver with 564 and Ashok Pandit had a bad day as he finished with 560 for a bronze. In the trap events, Manavjit Singh returned with 145 out of a possible 150 for the gold and Anwar Sultan of Uttar Pradesh was way behind at 138 finishing second followed by Zoravar Singh of Punjab. Manavjit erased the mark of 139 set by Anwar Sultan in Punjab in the previous edition. However, Mansher Singh failed to finish among the medallists. In the 10-m rifle event, Maharashtra team comprising Suma Shiroor, Deepali Deshpande and Anju Tere won the team gold and were followed by Andhra Pradesh (Anjali Bhagwat, Kuheli Ganguly and Leena Shirodkar) and Madhya Pradesh (Rajkumari, Meenakumari and Sharada Tapa). UNI
|
Sabeeha’s absence costs Punjab dear Chandigarh, December 16 Last evening, Sabeeha was kept as a standby. She was told that since she had not fared well in the recent National Shooting Championship at Bangalore, so she was being given chance to compete in 22 rifle event, which will be held on December 20. Mr KS Sidhu, secretary, Punjab Rifle Shooting Association, said three deserving shooters — Avnit Sidhu, Chetanpreet and Navdeep Dhillon — were given a chance in the event. Every interest of the state was taken into consideration before selecting the team, he said. But today the Punjab team of Avnit, Chetanpreet and Navdeep finished fourth in the team event and in the individual section, Avnit finished fourth. The gold medal went to Anjali Vedpathak, silver to Deepali Deshpande and bronze medal to Suma Shirur. Sabeeha has shot consistently during the past one year. She has an average of 390/400 and in the Kumar Surender Singh Memorial Shooting Meet few months back, she shot 39400. In the Punjab State Shooting Championship held in July this year, she had won the gold medal. Sources, however, said, in order to adjust a ward of a technical official of the National Rifle Association of India the axe fell on Sabeeha. Interestingly, that girl scored 369/400. which was quite less from the average score of 380/400 in today’s rounds. When contacted, Sabeeha Dhillon said even Anjali Vedpathak was astonished to know that Sabeeha was kept out of the team. On one hand, Anjali and Suma, who won medals, were roped in by Andhra Pradesh so as to increase their medal tally, on the other Punjab did not even bother to guard the interests of genuine players who were sure of increasing the state’s medal share, she said. Sabeeha said, she had earlier even asked the state Olympic official to give her a no-objection certificate as neighbouring Himachal Pradesh were keen to have her in their team but she was denied permission.
|
|
|
Punjab in soccer semis
Hyderabad, December 16 Punjab rode on a 24th minute strike by Gurvinder Pal Singh to increase their points tally to six from three matches and finish second in group B at the Lal Bahadur Shastri stadium. Tamil Nadu, on the other hand, went into the lead in the 52nd minute through V Manimaran before Kerala restored parity in the 71st minute when lethal striker Asif Saheer found the target. The Punjab vs Andhra Pradesh match played under lights saw a vastly improved display from the hosts, who combined well to pose constant danger to the Punjab defence. PTI
|
|
|
Haryana
judo team debarred Visakhapatnam, December 16 The organisers did not yield to the written appeal of the Haryana Sports Deputy Director Dr Sumir Singh Nandal. The official was ready to apologise if the team had committed any mistake so that the actual sportspersons did not suffer.
UNI |
|
|
Punjab’s Sunaina eclipses record Visakhapatnam, December 16 Sunaina lifted a total weight of 202.5 kg breaking the 197.5 kg mark set by Prasamitha Mangaraj of Orissa in 2001. She had a snatch of 90 kg and jerk of 112.5 kg. Prasamitha with a total lift of 200 kg (87.5 kg in snatch, 112.5 kg in clean and jerk) finished second. In the process, Sunaina’s record of 110 kg in clean and jerk established in Patila last year was erased. Andhra Pradesh’s K Krishna Kumari, younger sister of Olympic bronze medallist Karanam Malleswari, had to be content with bronze with a total lift of 187.5 kg (82.5, 105). UNI
|
|
PSB score win Jalandhar, December 16 In the 29th minute Mandeep Singh of PSB, gave the ball to Rajvinder Singh who put the ball in the net (1-1). In the 55th minute PSB’s Rajvinder Singh converted a penalty stroke while in the 58th minute, Rajvinder again dodged the BSF defenders and put the ball in the net. In the 69th minute Brinder Guria of BSF reduced the margin 2-3. In the second match Kulbir Singh opened the account for Punjab Police with a reverse flick and then scored the second goal with a powerful shot from right flank. In the 52nd minute N.Singh of Railway XI reduced the lead by converting a penalty corner.
|
|
NFL Bangalore, December 16 Ekeh, the star attraction today, scored in the 13th, 38th and 82nd minutes and the lone face saving goal for HAL came in 9th minute through Kenath Onu. With this win, the Kolkata giants Bagan took their points tally to nine from six outings and HAL remained at four from five engagements.
Churchill Bros beat IT
MARGAO: Last year’s runners-up Churchill Brothers registered their maiden victory when they defeated Indian Telephone Industries (ITI), Bangalore, 2-0 to earn full points in the National Football League match at Nehru Stadium, Fatorda, here today. Both the goals for Churchill came in the second half — the first through Yakubu Yusuf in the 82nd minute and the second through Rockey Barreto in the 88th minute. After a barren first half, Churchill Brothers played with renewed vigour and drew first blood in the 82nd minute through Yakubu Yusuf, whose powerful header from close range gave no chance to ITI goalkeeper Gumpe Rime. Inspired by the goal, Churchill continued the attack and increased the lead in the 88th minute.
PTI
|
 |
| Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Editorial | | Business | Sport | World | Mailbag | In Spotlight | Chandigarh Tribune | Ludhiana Tribune 50 years of Independence | Tercentenary Celebrations | | 122 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
